A study to determine the presence and prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in slaughter cattle in Kenya was carried out in two abattoirs from July to November 2009. Routine postmortem meat inspection was performed on a subpopulation of 929 cattle selected randomly from among 4,984. Carcases were inspected for gross tuberculous lesions which were then examined for acid-fast bacilli, (AFB), cultured for isolation of mycobacteria and the isolates characterised by DNA molecular analysis. Of the carcases examined, 176 (18.95 %, 95 % CI) had lesions suggestive of tuberculosis. AFB were observed in 63/176 of the lesioned cattle and mycobacteria were isolated from 64 of them. The isolates were identified as Mycobacterium bovis (19/64), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, (2/64) and mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (43/64). The prevalence of M. bovis by molecular analysis was 2.05 % (95 % CI). This study documents for the first time the presence of bovine tuberculosis among slaughter cattle in Kenya. There is therefore a need to formulate and implement control programmes in order to minimise transmission among animals and to humans. Isolation of M. tuberculosis from cattle underscores the risk tuberculous humans pose to animals

Maize stover is an important feed resource in smallholder crop/livestock production systems. A situation analysis survey was undertaken in four administrative divisions, namely Kiambaa and Githuguri in the Kiambu district and Gatanga and Kamwangi in the Thika district as representatives of this system. The objective of the study was to establish baseline information on maize stover utilization as livestock feed and possible constraints and strategies to deal with these constraints. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Simple random sampling was used to select 15 respondents per district, giving a sample size of 30 households. Sampling criteria was based on dairy enterprise priority and a zero-grazing production system. Termite attacks during storage and low quality of stover were the major constraints in utilization of maize stover. Among the major strategies for dealing with the low quality of stover, was supplementation with spent brewers' grains, which was most important in Thika district, while in Kiambu district, supplementation with fodder grasses emerged highest. Treatment of dry maize stover with urea was among the least adopted technologies in the two districts. It was concluded from the study that the efficiency with which the available stover are utilized is compromised by poor handling before feeding. Some of the strategies adopted to overcome the identified constraint of low quality were also inappropriate. This may reflect the lack of technical know-how on how best to use the stover and/or inappropriateness of available technologies. There is a need to address this situation by adapting known and workable technologies under the local conditions.

A study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of a bronchoscope in administering a pathogenic field strain of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (MmmSC) in cattle challenge experiments. Out of 16 animals inoculated using the bronchoscope, 10 (62.2%) showed clinical disease as evidenced by fever and 15 (93.8%) displayed typical lesions of CBPP from which MmmSC was isolated. Serum samples collected weekly were tested by Complement Fixation Test (CFT) and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA). Antibodies to MmmSC were detected in 10 out of the 16 animals by the CFT and 11 out of the 16 animals by c-ELISA. The onset of clinical disease was as early as 2 days post-inoculation, and most of the animals developed clinical disease 2 to 3 weeks post-infection. These results clearly demonstrate that nasotracheal inoculation of pathogenic strain of MmmSC with the aid of a bronchoscope can lead to early onset of clinical disease; similar to previous studies but with higher numbers of animals showing clinical disease. This is in contrast with previous studies where early clinical disease was observed in as little as 15% of inoculated animals. This nasotracheal inoculation method using a bronchoscope can, therefore, be adopted for use in experimental challenge infections of cattle. This method is found to be a better replacement to the contact transmission method whose drawback includes extra cost of donor animals and unpredictable rate and timing of transmission from intubated to challenge animals.

Data was collected from a number of flocks following an outbreak of Marek's disease in Thika, Kiambu and Nairobi, in 1997. Clinically, the disease presented as a rapid emaciation and depression followed by death. Weekly point and cumulative mortalities were calculated in two of the flocks. Postmortem examination revealed, initially, an atrophy of the bursa of Fabricious. Later, there were turmours in a proportion of the birds. The tumours were observed in the heart muscle, the liver, intestines, and bursa of fabricious. Later, there were tumours in a proportion of birds. The tumours were observed in heart muscles, the liver, intestines, bursa of Fabricious and the skin. There was swelling, oedema and frequently ulceration of the proventriculus. The spleen was usually spotted and enlarged. Microscopically, lesions consisted of a mixture of both proliferative and necrotic lesions the suspected contributory causative factors were high field infections pressure, failure to vaccinate, vaccination failure and lack of quarantine and other disease control measures. Failure to institute effective control measures against the disease is likely to seriously affect the poultry industry in the country.